A NEW bombshell was hurled on to the coalition battlefield yesterday as Chris Huhne launched a scathing attack on Tory eurosceptics.

The embattled Energy Secretary took a swipe on Conservatives who “keep beating the anti-European drum”, and vowed Lib Dems would not allow the Government to weaken links to Europe.

Mr Huhne also lashed out at Tories who “slaver over tax cuts for the rich” and claimed if they failed to compromise, Britain’s economic recovery would be “put in peril”.

He used his explosive tirade to bracket them with the “madcap” American right-wing Tea Party movement, warning they will “wreck the nation’s economy”.

His blistering criticism is the most explicit verbal assault made by the Lib Dems on their coalition partners at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham this week. Mr Huhne said: “Being part of Europe is not a political choice. It is a geographical reality.

“It always was and until the tectonic plates break up, it always will be.

Chris Huhne launched a scathing attack on Tory eurosceptics

“We will not, as Liberal Democrats in government, weaken the ties that deliver our national interest through Europe.”